I Need You
by ihnfinity
Summary: "She was so consumed by the pain she felt, she sunk lower and curled into herself further, willing all of it to just disappear." Sleepless nights after 3.17 Reviews are welcome - this is my first fanfic so be kind.


They were sleeping peacefully, holding each others hands as they did nearly every night. Only she wasn't sleeping peacefully. Not for the first time, was Elizabeth caught in a nightmare thats shook her to the core. A montage of images haunted her behind her eyelids.

Henry - her best friend, her husband, the father of her children and her soulmate being shot and killed right before her very eyes. She knew that in reality he was only shot in the legs, he was fine (mostly) but most importantly alive next to her. However she couldn't stop the alternate scenarios of what would have happened if it hadn't been his legs. What if it was his head or his heart? Images of her having to tell her kids that their beloved father was dead, that he'd put himself at risk, in the danger zone was just too much too handle. Sometimes she was there in the moment. She watched it play out in slow motion and saw the bullet leave the gun and enter her husband - those were the worst of all. But tonight's nightmare was different though. Instead she was waiting in her office when Conrad walked in…

…"Mr President" said Elizabeth rising from her chair. She had a confused look on her face. Countless times a day Elizabeth was summoned to the White House but it was extremely rare for the President to be in her office.

"Have a seat Bess." He motioned to the couch with a grim expression on his face. Something bad was coming. Elizabeth knew that by calling her Bess it was personal. She sat down cautiously, a slight tremble beginning in her hands. Her breathing beginning to pick up pace. She gripped the arm rest on the chair to keep herself stable and present. "Is everything ok, sir?"

"I'm so sorry Bess." Her grip on the chair arm tightened until her knuckles turned white. "I have no idea how to best deliver this news so i'm just going to tell you." Conrad picked up her free hand, his heart breaking when he felt the tremor in her hand and knew how much this news would break her.

"Henry was shot."

All of the colour drained from her face. Her blood ran cold and her breath hitched in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Her eyes went searching around the room, searching Conrad's face, trying to find some sort of indication that this wasn't real. It was a joke, a prank, did she know any other Henry's? It couldn't have been her Henry. Conrad felt her piercing eyes through his soul as the hurt began to creep onto her face. Breathlessly the words fell out of her mouth, "W-Where - Where is he? C-Can I.. I need to see him" She began to stand was stopped by Conrad's grip on her hand, puling her to sit back down. Her grip, un-removed from the armrest, was so tight that the tips of her fingers began to ache where they dug into the chair.

"Bess." Conrad took a deep breath, "He didn't make it."

"No." Her response was firm. She wasn't going to accept it. "No. No. No." Thats all she could say.

"I'm so sorry." He tried to pull her in for a hug but she rejected it. "No. No. No. No."

"Bess…"

"NO!" With that she jolted upright, her heart racing, covered in sweat. She tried to catch her breath, tried to keep the tears at bay but it was just so real. The pain felt so real.

Henry was already awake beside her. He was awoken by her deathlike grip on his hand. Unconsciously as the dream panned out she had tightened her grip on his hand, just as she did the arm of the couch. Henry had tried to wake her from this horrible nightmare but failed. He knew his hand would have bruises from such a tight grip, as well as marks from where her fingers had dug in but all he cared about was making sure she was ok. Henry was beyond concerned about what had caused her such distress.

"Baby." The worry was evident in his voice. She didn't respond, instead she just stared at him. In her mind she was working out the fact that it was just a bad dream. Henry was alive, he was here - but that didn't stop her heart from racing. Now that she was awake, Henry pried her fingers off his hand, wincing slightly as the pressure of her grip was relived. Elizabeth just looked down, slightly confused at how that had happened, still struggling to catch her breath.

"Elizabeth, Are you ok?" He readjusted himself so he was facing her. He grabbed both her hands in his and brought them to his lips. He kissed them lightly, but she pulled them away. She twisted away from him sitting with her legs dangling off the edge of the bed.

"I- I'm fine." she said so quietly Henry nearly missed it.

"Hey." He rubbed his hand down her arm trying to comfort her, "I know you aren't fine. Tell me what happened." She shook her head, pulled her arm from his touch and went to stand up. This concerned Henry as Elizabeth never shied away from his comforting touch. Still with her racing heart and lack of air she felt seriously lightheaded but tried to brush it off. "I'm fine." she muttered. She attempted to make her way to the bathroom, continuing to repeat "i'm fine" and shaking her hands in Henry's direction indicating him not to worry. This obviously did nothing to ease his concern, only making it worse. "Baby, please come back. Elizabeth tell me whats wrong?"

She turned around to face Henry again and insist she was fine when she tripped on one of her heels and stumbled backwards into the corner of the wardrobe entrance. It was a minor bump, but in that moment it was enough to push her over the edge. She turned so her back was flat against the fall and slid down to the ground so she was curled up in a ball. Head in her hands she began to cry.

Henry, still confused by what had transpired, wanted to go comfort her immediately - except for the fact that he had injured both his legs and couldn't walk. "Babe, please talk to me, come here" but Elizabeth couldn't hear him anymore. She was so caught up in her mind and the very real fear that she may lose Henry. Just because it wasn't this time doesn't mean, in his line of work, it couldn't happen soon. She was so consumed by the pain she felt she sunk lower and curled into herself further, willing all of it to just disappear.

Tears began forming in Henry's eyes. He hated seeing his wife upset in any way but seeing her this distraught was just heart breaking. He looked down at his legs and sighed, picking up his crutches and preparing himself for what he knew would be a painful journey. He readjusted himself then stood up wincing, but ignored the incredible amount of pain circulating from his legs. He wobbled over to where Elizabeth was hunched over herself, still struggling to catch her breath. He managed to lower himself enough to land on the ground next to her.

"Hey" He spoke softly afraid to startle her, "shhh Baby, take a breath, its ok." He began rubbing her back, drawing patterns around her spin and whispering words of encouragement and love - he knew this was the only way to calm a hysterical Elizabeth. She began regaining some of her composure, securing enough air in her lungs when she began yelling at Henry.

"You can't do that!" "How dare you!" "Stop it, you can't!" She was taking sharp intakes of breath to be able to keep going, tears continued to flow evenly down her cheeks. Henry was beyond confused by her outburst but when he tried to calm her down she cut him off - "You can't!" "Don't do that to me, to our family" "Please Henry" She was out of control now but he had to let her get it out, hoping whatever was making her so upset would surface. "You can't do it to us!" "Please" "I won't" "I can't" "Without you" Still unsure of what he was being accused of, Henry began drawing on her back again and in a soothing voice asked, "Baby what's on your mind? What can't I do?"

Elizabeth went quiet. She looked him dead in the eye, the depth of pain inside them burned into Henrys memory. When she mustered all her strength, she whispered "you can't… die" and Henry's heart shattered. He let out a breath, now he finally understood what was making her so distressed. Recent events had really shaken her and he felt horribly guilty to be apart of something causing her so much pain.

With that Elizabeth collapsed and fell into Henry's open arms. He pulled her onto his lap, careful not to hurt his legs too badly and curled her against his body. She clutched his shirt, placing her head where his heart was and let out all the pent up emotion and stress she'd been storing. Henry was crying now too. This was too much for the both of them and after seeing just how much this had affected his strong and powerful wife he knew it had to come to an end. After a little while he pushed her back slightly so he could look in her eyes. "Henry, i'm so sorry, I just - just the thought of having to live without you is - is so unbearable, I can't - I can't do it. I need you."

He wiped a lone tear from her face, "Elizabeth, I love you so much. I will always show up for you. I promise you. I'm just so sorry Baby." and pulled her back in for a hug. "I love you too Henry."

They remained cuddling each other for a while, resting in the security of one another.


End file.
